I don’t remotely trust the company not to turn any suggestions into frankly draconian policies that manage to create more problems than they solve.
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Hi, in response to this, I had a sitter that did not show up the first two days of my sit. I worked with THS, providing all relevant information, including copies of text threads. After review, THS did remove them from the site. If you are a homeowner and this happens to you, write to THS immediately so you can get the situation resolved. You are right, these people give THS a bad rap. You have to step up so poor sitters can be removed.
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The OP, @j03 has quite a lot of people who agree with him/her, which is to kick sitters off who cancel. If anyone who has agreed with him/her then worry about having cancellations post to their profile, if they too have cancelled in the past, they don’t have to because they will already be banished from the site.
I don’t think anyone should be kicked off unless they do something particularly egregious, which THS does already.
We can each make our points and we don’t have to agree with each other. I choose to speak out against cancelling others, calling out @j03 comment calling sitters parasites, because it’s wrong. Everyone gets to decide for themselves. That’s the spirit of this forum.
I think there is an incentive to get data so they can figure out how much of a problem it actually is and how many sits are being cancelled for frivolous reasons. If you look at the forum it looks big because there are always posts where a sitter or a petparent is left in tough situation after a cancelation. Right now they have no way of tracking this and rely on “dispute” reports and I would guess insurance claims when that happens. This does effect the overall business if the cancelations are so frequent that the effect is that a significant number of pet parents leave the site and reviews start showing up on sites like Trustpilot discouraging new pet parents from joining. I’m a combined member and if a sit I was going to got cancelled at the last minute – legitamately or frivolously – it would put me in a weird position as I’d still be forced to travel at my own expense in order not to cancel a sit I’d arranged for my own pets.
This is why I think the best course would be to track the cancelations and just have some quick online form to make sure both parties have the same understanding. The control of unconfirming could still be in the hands of petparents to make sure they know and animals aren’t harmed, but if sitter iniatied, the sitter wouldn’t be able to sit on those dates – although even this could have an overide if for example a 3-month sit was cancelled where the sitter wouldn’t have been able to do the first month because of a health crisis. At some point even if sits were cancelled for legit reasons say a senior dog having a health crisis and owners cancel, THS should step in if this becomes repetitive and take steps. It does mean maybe booting out multiple cancellers – both sitters and homeowners, but only when there is a pattern of cancellations because that really can cause ripples of chaos.
I don’t know how much they kick people off for cancelling currently even if it happens a lot as most pet parents don’t report a cancellation as disputed, and when there is a report THS will accept almost any excuse. It doesn’t show up in any way on the sitter’s profile. Currently there could be a sitter with many five star reviews who regularly confirms sits and then cancels to take better ones. The new product update might deal with some of that, but not all of that.
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Sorry, I wasn’t referring to THS kicking people off THS for cancelling sits. I was referring to THS removing sitters and owners who commit egregious behaviors. I don’t know what that criteria is, but I’m guessing along the lines of safety of persons, safety of animals, theft, criminal offences, etc. I haven’t seen much here on the forum and haven’t looked for it, but occasionally I’ll read a review and it will state that they (sitter or owner) did something and they either got them kicked off or they were being investigated.
For all of the discussions we all have on this forum about how things should be updated or not, what THS should do or not, who agrees and who does not, THS is a for profit company. They have a business they are growing. Whatever they do, be it site programming, policies, etc. it will be their choice, not ours. How many businesses let you tell them how they should be run? Whatever bashing anyone does on this forum, IMO, it helps no one.
That is a ludicrous statement that is simply not true.
Full-time sitters will be spending more than the average person on travel and hotels in between sits. How will this be possible for anyone who is 'broke and desperate '?
What is your definition of ‘a lot?’
What figures and/or information are you using to come to this conclusion?
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Well, there is the threshold of the fee for THS.
I think you may be describing the situation in the US. That is where THS saw the need for extra background checks.
But yes, also in Europe lots of people are broke now, after record-high inflation. Some of those that have been called “leaches” and “parasites” in this thread may have cancelled because they could not afford the trip anymore.
@Mr.T Please enlighten us as to how you know that there is a “certain percentage” of sitters who are “broke and desperate” and who sit as an “alternative to being homeless”?
Why would anyone who is broke pay for a 150 dollar membership?
My impression is that there are mostly digital nomads and retirees here.
Me?
Not homeless. I have 3 homes.
Not broke. I retired at 47.
I sit because it’s an interesting way to experience another culture and community and have the companionship of a dog.
Check your assumptions please.
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Agreed! I had someone cancel on me today, less than 48 hours before her trip. She said it’s because I didn’t let her know how far the airport she bought tickets to was from my home, the city listed in my profile, and after I said that I could not pick her up nor could pay for her bus ticket.
Welcome to the forum @Frequenttraveler24
sorry that it’s a last minute cancellation by a sitter that has brought you here .
No member should cancel unless there are exceptional circumstances . The explanation given by you sitter doesn’t meet the description of an exceptional circumstance.
You can report such cancellations to THS by e-mail
support@trustedhousesitters.com
You can also post your sit in the last minute section to try and find a replacement reliable sitter. @Carla maybe able to help you with this
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I’d report such a sitter to THS.
Hello everyone,
While it is great to get stuck into such a thought-provoking discussion, a few flagged posts have shown that not all members on this thread are posting with the kindness and respect guidelines in mind.
Be kind and courteous
We’re all in this space together to create a welcoming environment for both existing and potential members of TrustedHousesitters. We should treat each other with respect. Healthy debate is encouraged however kindness and respectful narrative is required - inflammatory tone of language, rudeness, personal insults, or judgments will not be permitted.
Please use the guidelines for reference, it’s fine to disagree or hold opposing views, but keep it kind!
Thank you to everyone who flagged posts to help keep the discussion within the above terms 
Please continue the discussion.
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Definitely report her. That’s the kind of thing as a responsible sitter you figure out before you accept a sit. I hope you were able to leave a one star review for her and describe what she did.
I did report the sitter. They said because it was her first offense, they’d put an internal note on her profile in case she does it again… 
The last sitters who cancelled told me the site wasn’t allowing them to cancel, so I declined them. Now in retrospect I’m wondering if that was a trick so it’s not held against them.
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I wonder how many offenses they allow someone, whether sitter or host. Life happens, including seriously unavoidable things, but regardless, it creates chaos and stress for anyone when someone cancels on them. I’m sorry you had to go through that.
If you have your exchanges in writing, you might still be able to report them to THS.
The rude messages all came in through the THS app, so they saw and have at least the harassment after she continued sending me messages and making up lies. They voice message and the planning/all my messages leading up to today are in WhatsApp. I downloaded the voice text at least for now, I had to block her on WhatsApp since she wouldn’t stop sending me rude messages.
Thank you for the tag @Silversitters I can see that there is now a post in the last-minute listing section 
@Frequenttraveler24 if you need any more help with that please let me know!
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